T he work of a local woman who fought to support veterans is being kept alive one breakfast at a time.

The family of Janice Oliver has revived the Elks Monthly Breakfast, which will be held this month from7:30to11 a.m.on Sunday, Oct. 23.

A former Exalted Ruler and one of the first women in the community to become an Elk when the organization opened its ranks to women, Janice Oliver was a tireless supporter of local veterans and lent her support to a number of events and fundraisers that benefited our service men and women.

Perhaps the most well known of those events was the Elks monthly breakfast held on the fourth Sunday of each month. Oliver’s dedication to veteran’s affairs led her to revive the monthly breakfast with proceeds benefiting veterans.

Over the years, hundreds of local residents would stop by and enjoy a nice hearty breakfast, and in the process, help Oliver achieve her goal of helping our service men and women.

However last fall, Oliver succumbed to a long battle with cancer. Without her dedication, the breakfast’s kind of fall to the wayside, or that was until recently.

Much as she revived the breakfast’s years ago, her family and other members of the Elks have revived the breakfasts again and carried on Oliver’s support of local veterans.

“After her passing, her family felt it was necessary to memorialize Janice by continuing her fundraising efforts via the monthly breakfast,” lodge esquire Tammy Stevens said. “Her goal was veterans. Everything was always about the veterans.”

Stevens said her husband, Dave, wants people to know that his wife’s spirit is still very much alive.

The breakfast is held from7:30to11 a.m.on the fourth Sunday of each month and is open to members of the public.